Blue Peter's promising push
By Michael Hollett
May 26-June 1, 1983

Blue Peter burst on the Toronto music scene back in 1978 with a confident swagger and unique sound that wouldn't be denied. But it was, and now, five years later, Blue Peter has learned to function as a band whose potential has yet to be matched by their success.

Because of the initial publicity the band attracted, hopes were high and a lot was looked for from a band whose members were all in their teens. As a result, the band has done much of its development under the steely-eyed stare of an expectant public. And to some, this has meant Blue Peter has been viewed as a band that's stalling instead of merely going through the growing pains that others have experienced in the privacy or their rec rooms or half empty bars.

London, Ontario

EH ONE & EH TWO - Six thousand listeners jammed a local park to hear Canadian combo Blue Peter perform in a free concert provided by CKSU/London, Ontario. The station sponsored a series of four free shows during the summer.

Blue Peter Displays A Wide Range Of Talent
BY MATTHEW FRASER
The Globe and Mail
FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1984

BLUE PETER'S concert at the Ontario Place Forum last night amply demonstrated that the young Toronto band is one of the best live groups in the country and deserves to be reaching a wider audience outside Canada. The capacity crowd of about 12,000 must have been sufficiently inspiring, though, for the group was in excellent form, both with old songs and a few new and promising tunes.

THE GAZETTE, Tuesday, Jan. 13,1981
Blue Peter showcases motivated talent
by Brendan Wycks
Gazette Staff

Blue Peter, that band from Toronto whose talent, if recognized, should promise a future of international renown, was in town last weekend for a three night stint at the Cedar Lounge. From the initial chord of the opening set Saturday night, the dance floor was overflowing.

Lead singer Paul Humphrey's natural aura of confident abandon won over people immediately; the usual routine of waiting for an inebriated introvert to break the ice was dispensed with on this occasion. Humphrey is both visually and vocally comparable to rock's brilliant chameleon, David Bowie. The beginning bars of 'Cloak and Dagger' saw Humphrey twisting, bending & gyrating and thrusting to the pulse of his musical support.

Collectively the band was incredibly tight. The sound was crystal clear and unmarred by any technical foul-ups. It was loud but not offensive.

Toronto-based band Blue Peter has just released a new EP entitled Up To You. Last time they played at Ballinger's I talked to Chris Wardman, guitar player and songwriter for the band.

CKMS: Why did you call the EP Up To You?
WARDMAN: We thought that would show that people are responsible for themselves. We were trying to hint at that in a subtle way.

CKMS: Do you think that music can influence or change people?
WARDMAN: Not really. I think if people are barraged by a lot of propaganda that they'll subtly pick it up. So we're just trying to counteract that.

CKMS: So yours is alternative propaganda?
WARDMAN: Exactly.
PAUL HUMPHREY: (lead singer) I want to say something about propaganda. They're the type of lyrics that make people shy away from propaganda. and make people perhaps start cutting the strings that make them puppets.
WARDMAN: It's alternative propaganda.

Edmonton

The first thing that strikes you about Toronto's Blue Peter is that they're a lot of fun to listen to.

The second thing that hits you is that it all sounds a little familiar - sort of like Roxy Music.

But trailblazers are hard to find in the new music mode, and if dancin's on your mind, this Eastern Canadian fivesome definitely has a persuasive, foot-fidgeting quality.

The group - which plays the Mayfield tonight and the Highway tomorrow through Saturday - casts its shadow with the romantic, lanky figure of singer Paul Humphrey.

Leather cummerbund slashing his billowing shirt and pirate pants, he swashbuckles between the Teddy-Boy look of guitarist Chris Wardman and punkish bass player Rick Joudrey. Blue Peter revolves musically around Humphrey, too.

Catchy melodies, dreamy keyboards

The group's catchy melodies depend on his strong vocals and the dreamy keyboards of Jason Sniderman.

Using a reverb that sometimes gives him the artificially deepened quality of Dion or Fabian, Humphrey is compelling as he powers out the lyrics.

Blue Peter: All Through The Night (Greatest Hits)
If anything distinctive  can be said musically for the year of 1997, it was the year of remembering. For some strange reason the music of the 1980's made a comeback when songs that were hard to find resurfaced in 80s compilations (Choose 80s, Made in the Eighties and Retro Night). Eighties compilations also resurfaced in movie soundtracks: (Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and Grosse Pointe Blank).

And now Canadian band Blue Peter has stepped forward to release a greatest hits retrospective from 1979-83. A band that was a part of the early stages of the Canadian rock scene, Blue Peter achieved a high level of success like no other at the time. Though Blue Peter broke up in 1983 they are still widely known by 80's nostalgia.

The album is a great selection of tracks that transport the listener to a sound very deeply entrenched in the sounds of the 80's. The one thing that shocked me was how much the music still holds up, as it doesn't sound too dated.

It's nice to see a Canadian band enscribed in retro history.

FRI NOV 2, 2012
Then & Now: The Edge

...The Garys saw the club as a springboard for emergent local acts. “We nurtured a lot of local groups who got signed from playing regularly at The Edge and from being promoted the same ways we would promote The Police or whoever,” says Topp. He namechecks more than a dozen Toronto acts of the time, including The Mods, Drastic Measures, The Sharks, The Curse, Spoons, Battered Wives, The Demics, The Dishes, Johnny and the G-Rays, Blue Peter, and The B-Girls."

Full Story: http://www.thegridto.com/culture/music/then-now-the-edge/